Establishing a Framework for Knowledge Management in the Flow

The U.S. Navy established Carrier Team One (CT1) in 1996 to define, champion, and improve cross-organizational processes for aircraft carrier maintenance. CT1 is set up to take a broad view that focuses on capturing and transferring knowledge, best practices, and lessons learned across all projects and all shipyard locations. To create a culture and practice of sharing in daily workflows, the Navy enlisted APQC’s Advisory Services team to standardize processes and measurement tools for KM.

Working with APQC, CT1 completed the KM Capability Assessment Tool to gauge its current practices, strengths, and opportunities. Based on the findings, APQC determined that CT1 was operating at a Level 2 on APQC’s Levels of KM Maturity model, a five-level rating system assessing sophistication. This case study highlights the assessment process and documents the six recommendations APQC provided to strengthen the KM program and help CT1 attain a Level 3 maturity in KM.